# Telegram Archive ![Telegram Archive]() [![Docker Pulls]()]() [![GitHub Stars]()]() [![Release]()]() [![License: GPL-3.0-or-later]()]() --- **Telegram Archive** backs up one or more Telegram accounts to a machine you host, in Docker or from the [Python package](). Telegram Desktop's own export is a file you make by hand: it holds no earlier version of an edited message, no deleted message, and nothing reads it like the app. Telegram Archive runs on a schedule, fetches only what is new, keeps every edit and every deletion, and shows the archive in a viewer that reads like Telegram. Start with [Run with Docker](), then [Using the viewer](). Only the backup talks to Telegram; the viewer only reads the archive. - **[Run with Docker]()** --- [Log in to Telegram](), then start the backup and the viewer with the shipped compose file. - **[Your first backup]()** --- Follow the first run, see what a finished one looks like, and pick the settings to change next. - **[Using the viewer]()** --- Read chats, search messages, browse shared media and see what changed since the last run. - **[Environment variables]()** --- Every setting, its default and what it changes. ## The viewer ![A group chat in the viewer, with a pinned message, a four-photo album, replies and reactions, in the Telegram Day theme]() ![The same group chat on a phone]() On a phone ![A message deleted in Telegram, kept in the archive with its text and a deleted mark]() Deletions kept ![The edit history of a message edited twice, each version with its time]() Every edit kept ![The group chat in the Telegram Night theme]() Telegram Night The viewer looks and works like the Telegram app, with the archive behind it: chats, folders, forum topics, search, shared media and an info panel. What Telegram no longer shows, it keeps and marks: a [deleted message]() stays with its text, an [edited message]() keeps its earlier versions, and [What changed]() lists every deletion, edit and new transcript. [Logins, viewer accounts and share links]() covers who can open which chats, [Themes and wallpaper]() the twelve themes, and [Exposing the viewer safely]() a reverse proxy in front of it. ## What it saves - Messages with their formatting, replies, forwards, reactions, pinned messages, polls and service messages. - Every edit, with the earlier text, and every deletion, kept and marked. See [Catching changes to older messages](). - Photos, videos, voice notes, audio, round videos, GIFs, stickers, documents and link previews, each file stored once. Files over 100 MB are skipped by default. See [Media downloads](). - Forum topics, Telegram folders, archived chats, avatars and earlier profile photos. - [Several accounts]() in one archive, [transcripts]() of voice messages, and [imports]() of Telegram Desktop exports. Bot chats are skipped unless you [add them](). ## How it runs ``` flowchart TB TG[Telegram] subgraph backup [Backup container] SCH[Scheduler] CL[One client per account] LI[Real-time listener] MIG[Migrations on start] end DB[(Database
SQLite by default
PostgreSQL optional)] MEDIA[(Media folder)] TR[Transcription server, optional] subgraph viewer [Viewer container] WEB[Web viewer on port 8000
reachable from this machine only] end BR[Browser] TG <--> CL SCH --> CL LI --> CL CL --> DB CL --> MEDIA MIG --> DB backup -.->|audio| TR DB --> WEB MEDIA --> WEB WEB <--> BR ``` - Two images, `drumsergio/telegram-archive` for the backup and `drumsergio/telegram-archive-viewer`, share one version number, run on amd64 and arm64, and run as user id 1000. - The [listener]() saves new messages, edits and reactions as they happen. A full backup runs when the container starts, then on a cron [schedule](), once a day by default, to fetch what the listener could not see. - The archive is [SQLite by default, or PostgreSQL](). An [upgrade]() is usually a pin change and a restart; [Backing up the archive]() says how to keep a copy. ## What it does not do - It does not save secret chats. - It cannot recover messages deleted before the first backup. - It never sends or changes anything in your account. Only the separate restore script posts archived messages back to a chat, as you. See [Command line and Python API](). - The viewer is in English only and has no offline mode. ## Privacy - The archive stays on your own disk. Nothing leaves it unless you turn on one of the three optional features below. - The logs never contain message text, chat ids, account labels or phone numbers. - [Transcription]() sends the audio, its file name and its content hash to the server you configure. No message text or chat details go with it. - The [event webhook]() sends each edit or deletion, message text included, to the URL you configure. - [Web Push]() with `PUSH_NOTIFICATIONS=full` sends the chat title, the sender and the first 100 characters of each new message through your browser's push service, encrypted for the browser. ## Getting help - Something broken: read [Monitoring and troubleshooting](), then open an issue with the details it lists. - A security problem: follow the [security policy](), never a public issue. - What changed between releases: the [changelog on GitHub](). What is planned: the [Roadmap](). - Terms these pages use: the [Glossary](). Scripting against the viewer: the [HTTP API](). Sending a fix: [Development](). ## License Telegram Archive is released under the [GPL-3.0-or-later]() license. It is built on [Telethon]().